The Post-War Show
by Draxjmir
Summary: After the war, Naruto has to leave. As he crosses the Eastern Sea, new adventures begin. There is no plot. M for swearing. Idea-generator fic.
1. Prologue

Prologue

With the sealing finally finished, Naruto fell to his knees, palms on the ground, and breathed heavily. Sasuke looked winded as well, but continued to eye the Sage of Six Paths. The sealing of Kaguya and black Zetsu used almost all of the chakra that the Sage provided them, as well as nearly all the available chakra that could have been pulled from the tailed beasts.

"It is finished", said Hagoromo. "The location of the heavenly bodies have provided a suitable array to seal her once and for all. For her to be released from the seal, one would have to wait through millions of eras before the same formation took place. My earlier mistake was to only include the Sun, Moon and this planet in the array. This new one shall also use local as well as relatively far ones."

"But we're not done!", said Naruto. "We need to free everyone and use that technique I saw Nagato use before to revive the dead!"

Sasuke shot an inquisitive look at Naruto. "Is that even possible with the chakra we have now?"

"But we have to! We can't just leave Neji and the others dead like this!"

The Sage intervened. "With my chakra, it is still possible to revive a large number of your Shinobi force and a select few others. However, with this mass revival requires a large sacrifice to satisfy the Shinigami. Besides losing my gifts to you two, there would be substantial chakra to compensate."

"Which we currently do not have without killing more people", added Sasuke.

Naruto looked pensive, his face growing longer with each passing second, before he spoke up: "Wait guys! There is one way…without taking lives. This one myth Iruka tested us on back in the Academy…the one about the Shodaime giving life to the Land of Fire with his Mokuton jutsus. We could use that chakra."

"And you gathering the natural chakra and storing it inside of you?", inquired Sasuke.

"The land has more than enough. However, will you two be willing to relinquish the gifts that I bestowed upon you two?", the Sage mused, then asked.

"Yes", said both Naruto and Sasuke in a heartbeat. They looked at each other and looked back at the Sage.

"Let us begin".

With the resurrection and freeing of all the people trapped by Madara completed, people began picking themselves up – some still in disbelief that they were alive.

The survivors trapped by Madara were immediately given treatment, and soon after, each of the village began to leave back to their homes and rebuild them from the ashes of the war. There were formalities done by the Kages, but not so strict as each wanted to return. The previous Hokages looked on before leaving. The Shodaime, Nidaime and Sandaime returned to ashes and peace. As well, the Yondaime declined a full revival from the Heavenly Samsara as he wished to finally be at peace with his wife, having finally escaped the Shinigami's stomach. Naruto cried as he watched his dad disappear into the wind, but felt happy that his parents were finally reunited and at peace. However, with the passing of his family, Naruto, then and there, felt truly and utterly alone.

The trek back to Konoha was long and tedious. Without the Sage of Six Paths chakra flowing in him, Naruto felt weighed down. Especially after gathering so much natural energy and expending them in one giant push. He had to concentrate very hard not to tip the balance of such amounts of chakra in his body and turn to stone.

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned his head and saw Kakashi and Sakura bounding towards him. Throughout the whole revival ordeal, he never got a chance to meet with his teammate and sensei. Only a couple hours before, when things were finally over, he wanted to talk to them, but he saw that they were already happily talking to Sasuke, who was bearing the smallest, but surely growing, of smiles. He didn't want to intrude upon the reunion, especially now that Sakura smiled like she had never before – and Kakashi gave a genuine eye-smile.

"We have a problem! Naruto!"

Broken from his thoughts, he quickly responded: "What's the problem?"

"The captured victims of Madara, they've lost part of their memory!", Kakashi exclaimed.

Naruto blanched. "What? What do you mean?"

Sakura filled him in. "The tree was leeching chakra off of them, life chakra at that! That chakra seemed to be tied to their memory. They've regained their chakra, but now it's a jumble and they can't remember certain things. I've diagnosed a few cases. Some people have forgotten small things such as their bank account passwords, while others have entire years of memory missing!"

"So I guess we couldn't walk away from this war without a reminder. Grr…DAMN YOU MADARA!", shouted Naruto.

"Easy there, Naruto. There's no point in being angry now. Conserve your energy. We need to rebuild the village." Said Kakashi.

Naruto sat on the head of the Yondaime, carved on the rocky outcrop behind Konoha. The last few months had been less than enjoyable. While the citizens of Konoha, or those who hadn't decide to move away, completely stopped glaring at Naruto as if he were the Kyuubi, they began to give Naruto space – as if he were some sort of death god that opened the plains of hell and brought back many warriors. They were wary of him doing so again, and plunging Konoha into yet another conflict. The balance of power across the Elemental Nations was tipped severely to the Land of Fire after all. While the major hidden villages regained their warriors, they did not gain the biju. Only last week, Naruto freed most of them, excluding Kurama, and Hagoromo, before he finally left, offered them a seal that would make them containers of their own power, effectively masking their powers from sensors and allowing them a chance to live among humans, or undisturbed in the wilderness. Kurama, on the other hand, opted to stay, citing the luxury of not having to constantly hunt and find a safe home if set free. It warmed Naruto's heart for a bit, but soon after, Tsunady had to come in to discuss her successor as Hokage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _Flashback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Naruto, Sasuke and a couple of high-ranking jonins entered the Hokage's office. At this point, Tsunade turned her chair so she could face them. Ten whole seconds passed before Tsunade spoke._

"_I want to retire. And I need a successor. Naturally, I would ask you, Naruto, as you have done so much for this country, no…the entire Elemental Nations. You have proven yourself as a leader to the people. Will you accept the mantle?"_

_And in Naruto's heart, he wanted to say 'yes', but bit back and instead said: "No."_

_The temperature fell by a couple of degrees. Everyone turned to stare at Naruto. Time froze. Tsunade, still sober, calmly demanded: "Explain."_

"_I nominate Sasuke Uchiha as the next Hokage. He is a strong leader who prevailed in eliminating threats to Konoha. Despite his previous action, his quest has led him to his current state of repentance. I think it's time that an Uchiha to take the title of Hokage. As well, with me as the Hokage, the balance of power would be ruined. If not for the power, the fame of being this "saviour" would redirect missions to Konoha from the other hidden villages. The unrest would create yet another conflict. No, I feel like I need to leave."_

_Tsunade looked like she was ready to protest, but Sasuke intervened by bowing to Naruto and saying "Thank you". The double shock stopped the Hokage from saying anything. _

_Naruto, either unaware or uncaring, continued on: "And this shall be my other request. I would like to be sent off to the Eastern Waters. I trust that you all will take care of Konoha without me."_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flashback End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Perhaps Naruto wouldn't have chosen to leave. But circumstances brought upon this sort of thinking. At this point, Naruto had only Kurama as a companion. In the rebuilding of the village, Kakashi had to be called back to service in ANBU. Sakura was healing villagers caught in the fight in the Land of Fire and Sasuke was being groomed for the position of Hokage. It wasn't easy at first, with many people against his ascension. But with the backing from Naruto, certain blood oaths and compulsory community service, the village came to accept the fact that Sasuke would lead the village. There was no talk of any revival of the Uchiha clan, but Naruto was sure that Sasuke would eventually decide to settle down. Eventually. With Sakura.

It pained him to see Sakura return to Sasuke's side once more, but he had already accepted that fact. His promise of bringing back Sasuke was completed. But he already felt more isolated. It didn't help to hear from Hinata that she retracted her offer as well. The memory jumbling somehow redirected her love for Naruto to Kiba. She still admired Naruto, but more as a hero and less as a companion. In fact, she profusely apologized to Naruto for making that bold statement while she took a blow for Naruto. Just thinking about that moment brought the taste of bile to Naruto's mouth. The biggest blow to Naruto, however, was the lack of Jiraiya's appearance. Naruto wanted to see his sensei again, as well as have Tsunade and Jiraiya finally come together. The revival worked, assured Hagoromo, but Jiraiya was still nowhere to be found. Fukushima hypothesized that Jiraiya's body was probably far away, taken by the current to some unknown land or water. It would be impossible to track down Jiraiya. Especially now that his name had disappeared from the Toad summoning scroll.

Kurama, finally awake after several days of rest, suddenly addressed Naruto: **"Naruto, you have changed."**

"In what way?"

"**In profound ways. I see that you have finally and fully matured. Tell me, with your childhood dreams now more or less completed, what will you do?"**

"I plan to leave the Elemental Nations. I don't know why, but home just doesn't feel like home anymore."

"**It's a hard choice but not necessarily wise. Do what you want. But do not jeopardize yourself needlessly."**

"Thanks Kurama."

The send-off was more crowded than expected. Thousands of people and ninja alike came to the docks of a large port in Water Country. By contrast, Naruto stood beside his small dinghy, which could fit a couple of people, but was instead filled with supplies. The send-off took much longer than expected as well, as many people gave speeches of Naruto's greatness. Among the front of the crowd were his teammates and friends from Konoha. To Naruto, the support of this many people meant a great deal to him. He was _acknowledged_ now.

Naruto had been travelling for five hours on boat, using his clones to use Rasengan on the water to propel the boat forward. It was at this point, Naruto stopped creating clones to rest, and the sky began to turn black.

"Oh shit! This doesn't look good", Naruto exclaimed.

The concern made ripples in his mind, which woke up Kurama. **"Oi Naruto! What's the big deal?"**

"Massive storm coming in straight ahead. I need to take the sails down", replied Naruto.

Naruto began to take down the sail, wrapping it up and stowing it somewhere dry. However, the winds began to batter him hard, and Naruto soon had to get a coil of rope and secure himself to the boat.

The winds grew stronger and stronger, and the waves became more and more unruly. Lightning struck a tin can floating not just a metre away from the boat. Naruto just stared at the charred remains of the can as the waves grew taller and taller. Just holding onto the boat, Naruto felt like he was riding Gamabunta, except with a higher possibility of drowning or being electrocuted. Finally, the big wave showed up over the distance.

_This is not good_, thought Naruto.

The menacing wave struck quickly and like a meteor. Immediately, Naruto was blown away as the ship capsized. The subsequent waves pushed harder onto Naruto as he tried to swim back to the surface. Yet he soon got caught in an underwater current that dragged Naruto faster than he could propel himself. At this point, he was shooting Rasengans at the surface just to get away, but the current became stronger and stronger – it was a whirlpool and a gigantic one at that.

_Maybe this is why no one bothers to cross the Eastern Sea, _thought Naruto.

In the distance, he could see his dinghy also being dragged down as well. The storage container blew open, because Naruto could see the ramen cups whirling away as well. He cried at that sight.

The tug was enormous, like the coils of a deep sea monster dragging him to the ocean floor. The light from the surface soon disappeared and Naruto, underwater, tired and oxygen-deprived, soon blacked out too.

Kurama, meanwhile, kept on sleeping, ignoring the distress calls Naruto threw to him. It was another peaceful, but slightly damp, sleep.

Naruto woke up to a splash of salt water on his face. Groggy, tired and wet, he looked around to see rocky outcrops and a massive rock pillar in front of him. He slowly picked himself up and surveyed where he was. Unsurprisingly, he was still at sea, but on a rocky outcrop. Looking around, he spotted his dinghy and quickly went to retrieve it. To his dismay, the boat was damaged and waterlogged. Using the remaining rope tied around him and a kunai, he fastened the damaged boat to a large rock, testing the rope to make sure it was secure, and took whatever supplies he could find. All that was left was a book that a random Konoha ninja gifted him, and cloak. _Thank goodness I have toilet paper_, thought Naruto.

With that, Naruto began to climb the rock pillar using his chakra. He kept on climbing and climbing until he reached the clouds.

"What the hell? Why is the rock so tall?", asked Naruto to no one in particular. The winds continued to batter him, but at least he was out of the reach of the water. He kept on climbing, faster and faster, and this went on for another two hours. In between, Naruto took a break to fasten the cloak and book onto his body. He was so tired that he needed his hands to steady himself as he continued climbing.

"**Naruto, where are we?", asked Kurama suddenly.**

"Beats me. While you were sleeping your ass off, I got caught in a whirlpool and found myself at the bottom of this pillar. I've been climbing it for a while now", responded Naruto.

"**Well let's continue climbing. I have a feeling I know what this rock pillar is and why it's here", said Kurama.**

Naruto continued climbing until he finally came to a relatively horizontal ledge. It had just enough space for a person to stand. He looked up and saw a few mountains on this pillar.

_This is getting more and more fucked up. Who puts mountains on a rock pillar?_ Thought Naruto.

He continued trekking up the mountain, much more easily now that the slope was not as steep as that of the pillar. Eventually he came to the top to find a valley. And in it was a lake and a small forest. By the time, the pillar completely surpassed the clouds and the sun was just about to set.

_I guess it's time to find some shelter, _thought Naruto.

He headed down to the valley and found a small cave. He crawled into it and soon fell asleep.

Next morning, Naruto woke up much more refreshed. Remembering yesterday's events, he quickly crawled out of the cave and surveyed the lake.

"Wow!", exclaimed Naruto. The lake was magnificent and clean. The grass was green, the sky was bright blue and the sun shown brightly, stroking Naruto's cheek with warm rays of light.

The Kyuubi soon broke in: **"We're here, somewhere. Now what?"**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Naruto replied: "Let's check out this place."

And so they went. Despite the relative sparseness of trees, the valley was larger, much much larger than they first thought. The lake itself spanned a few miles, and the forest was lightly distributed – the grass floor was beaming with sunlight. Near the edges of the valley, Naruto saw vegetation growing, particularly potatoes.

At the sight of the potatoes, the Kyuubi had a realization.

"**I know this place! This was the pillar the Sage of Six Paths used to launch the Moon. After that, he took a break on top of the pillar and rested. During this time, he made the bare seafloor much more habitable. This was our birthplace, although not near the lake. We were created somewhere close to that potato patch. I can still remember that earthy smell from anywhere!"**

"Wait!" said Naruto. "This used to be part of the seafloor?"

"**Why yes. If you examine the rocks, you can still see some fossils of marine life. This place is still full of energy, causing the storms you encountered earlier to persist. Because it's always raining here, not much weather besides clear skies meets this area. I also know for a fact that the Sage created some sort of contraption to draw and purify salt water to supply the lake and the nearby vegetation. It was the first monumental plumbing creation!" **beamed the Kyuubi.

"So he not only introduced chakra, but also plumbing?", questioned Naruto, with a couple of sweat drops forming.

"Well, anyway I think I've found a good place to reside. I'm not sure what to do right now though. Maybe I could use this as a base of operations while I head back down to scour the sea for Jiraiya, if his body is still floating around."

"**You're an idiot to think you can beat the forces of nature. You were lucky enough to escape that whirlpool. It could have torn you to bits! Focus on conditioning yourself to battle nature if you want to begin this search. Just don't be rash and cause me to wake up early"**, grunted the Kyuubi. Naruto felt Kurama receding back into his mind and preparing himself for another nap. Naruto sighed.

"I guess I better get started then. There's no point trying another joyride on that broken boat anyway."

Sitting underneath a tree, Naruto began to think. The sun was shining brightly, but the high altitude compensated for the extra warmth, and Naruto felt the cool breeze stir his thoughts.

_To battle nature, I have to pull all stops. Punches, kicks and all those attacks won't work. I'm gonna need chakra. And I'm gonna need the elements to battle the storms beneath. Hmm, maybe blowing away the clouds could work. Let's try that first, _thought Naruto.

He sent a couple of shadow clones to return down to the clouds, while Naruto began setting his clones to more wind chakra training. He had a feeling that his idea wouldn't work. 10 minutes later, he received memories of his clones trying to fight the clouds and winds with the Great Breakthrough technique. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough power to counteract the already strong winds. Instead, the technique reflected back at them or away such that the clouds didn't move at all from the attacks. It shocked Naruto though. He expected the clouds to at least budge – after all, he sent a hundred shadow clones. While small compared to his current training army, one hundred was usually enough to flatten a forest.

_I've severely underestimated the winds. I need another way. Brute force won't work. I'd have to change the entire air flow for something to happen. _And then he paused. _Wait, if I can change the airflow, then maybe the storm will be sent away. _

A month had passed and Naruto still had no luck. The wind chakra training, which consisted of cutting small rocks with wind chakra alone, allowed Naruto to feel more control of the winds, of the eddies and the flow. Nevertheless, this feeling was lost when Naruto tried to move a large mass of air. It soon became apparent that his chakra control was lacking.

How did he know? It was simple enough to figure out. When Naruto created air movement, he created small pressure systems. The Great Breakthrough functioned by creating a high pressure point concentrated around the hands using chakra to gather the air and release the air so the pressure would do the rest. The storm and chaotic winds, unfortunately, provided the creation of many pressure points, making a chaotic but natural network of pressure so large that Naruto's interference was negligible. Stronger control of wind would require the ability to compress more air into finer points and control these points. Naruto's experience with such had only been the Rasengan, which provided compression down to the size of a water balloon. Wind control needed further compression – and by proxy, better chakra control.

_Well, now I have a plan. I just need to execute it. But I really want to start moving these clouds away. They've been bothering me for a while. I can't even go fishing in these waters!_ Thought Naruto. _Let's get this chakra control thing going!_

And with that Naruto began experimentation.

With two hands only an apple's width apart, he concentrated on gathering chakra. Having already done some spatial manipulation training, Naruto successfully trapped air into a spinning ball. It was easier than doing a Rasengan, as he didn't have to spin the chakra threads inside as well. However, it got harder as he tried to compress the ball. The outer layer of chakra began to rupture as chakra clashed against itself and eventually blew away. There was no explosion thankfully.

_I felt something, but it wasn't enough. I have to mesh the chakra well or else it won't work. _Naruto summoned his clone training army, and all of them began the practice. The clones popped at a constant rate, imbuing the others with experience.

A week passed, and yet Naruto did not have spectacular results with his experiment. The ball only got smaller, to the size of a lemon, but still didn't give enough wind power to blow away a boulder, much less change an entire air flow system.

Frustrated, Naruto took a break and went up to a nearby peak to cool off. The Southern Peak was by far Naruto's favourite spot as it had some relatively flat ground to sit on and view the sky. Naruto felt the wind fly past him, but this time, he could feel the strands of wind instead of a large block as usual. Puzzled, he closed his eyes and faced the wind. The strands, when hitting Naruto's face, seem to intertwine and continue on its path, instead of clashing with another strand. The experience gave Naruto a seedling of an idea, but it was enough to spark some serious thought. By the time Naruto had finished cooling off, (and eating dinner, which was potato overcooked with a katon jutsu yet again), he returned to training with a renewed spirit. The sun was setting, but inside Naruto's mind, the sun was just beginning to rise.

Naruto, instead of trying to create a ball, flexed out his chakra into the wind and tried to attack it to passing strands. The chakra extended a couple of meters before returning to Naruto, but he already felt the movement patterns. It was slow, but Naruto was able to be familiar with the wind's movements. It was chaotic, and patternless, but still predictable – somewhat. He just had to find the easiest way to flow and then the wind would follow that path. With the idea now cemented in his mind, Naruto summoned a smaller training army and began to experiment and see how he could manipulate the flow.

He eventually got the hang of threading strands of wind among one another and before long, he was able to compress the chakra ball. Using the same principle, he removed one strand from the ball and twisted it around the outer layer, effectively decreasing the radius of the chakra ball while increasing its strength. He could compress it to the size of a walnut, and by purposely creating an opening in the ball (through threading the chakra strings around an imaginary opening), he was able to create a significant, if short, blast. There were still problems though. Compressing the ball took time as Naruto had to concentrate on threading the chakra strings. As well, the ball did not take in much air to begin with. He would need to create a massive chakra ball and slowly compress it. It was like solving problems. Small problems were easy with enough effort, but the large and more complicated the problems became, the harder it became to untangle it. Naruto, luckily, had the blessing of his clone army. What could only be done at ease with years of experience was done in a short amount of time through intensive, and repetitive, training.

Finally ready to test this technique on moving the clouds away, Naruto sent several clones out to prepare. This time, he had a plan. Using a couple hundred clones, he would survey the wind behaviour while popping clones to provide his other squad of clones with information on where to direct the blasts. Positioning another hundred clones around the pillar, he popped a clone to signal the attack.

To an outsider, if he or she were close enough, the blasts would have resembled cannon shots. Yet with the storm still raging, the sounds were muffled. It was a good thing too. With this many air blasts happening, it wouldn't be surprising for Naruto fall down, clutching his ears. The clones continued to blast and slowly, the winds were redirected and blew the clouds. For a moment, it looked like the clouds would finally move away from the pillar, but then a clone noticed movement in the water surrounding the pillar. All of a sudden, whirlpools appeared throughout the calmer waters – and a particular whirlpool was so close that it began to gulp down the waters near Naruto's dinghy. It was fastened to the rock, but the rate at which the water was flowing into the whirlpool was frightening. The clone immediately popped and the other clones ceased their actions. The winds, now free from external influence, continued it chaotic dance, driving the clouds together and roughing the seas once more. A brave clone jumped down to the clouds and popped after sighting that the whirlpools were indeed gone.

The real Naruto, who noticed all of this, opened his eyes. He stood up, calmly walked to the lake and proceeded to yell: "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU NATURE!"

Kurama woke up yet again and asked Naruto what he missed in his nap. Naruto explained his findings and his situation, while also lacing many obscenities and expletives. Once Kurama finished listening, he gave a hearty laugh and proceeded to explain to Naruto what happened.

"**Did you know that before Hagoromo the Sage came to this waters, it used to be a whirlpool zone? The mountains you see surrounding this valley used to be active underwater volcanoes that constantly spewed magma out into the sea floor. At times, it would spew magma so fast that entire vacuum chambers would form. These would eventually break down and cause small whirlpools like the ones you saw before. Over time, these chambers would accumulate and break down at almost a constant rate. The cave you are staying in happened to be one of those chambers. With the storms however, the waters have been so disturbed that the water is forced to fill the chambers, with bubbles from the winds above replacing these waters. That is how strong the storms are. Once you stop the storms, there is nothing that feeds these chambers and thus they take in water like the greediest of drinkers ever. I'd say that if you dissipate the storm for about a decade, the chambers would likely all be filled and the waters would be safe. I'm guessing you don't have that time."**

"Damn right I don't! Man, what am I gonna do now?" said Naruto.

"**Fly" **shot back the Kyuubi, before returning to sleep.

"Oi! Wait a moment…damn it", exclaimed Naruto as Kyuubi proceeded to block out Naruto.

_Fuck Kyuubi, fuck this storm! Man, let's try doing something else to get my mind off of this mess, _thought Naruto.

"Man, it was so easy with the powers from Hagoromo…but now I have to figure out how to fly…I wonder what else I can do here", thought Naruto.

He went to the lake to cool off. The sun's rays intensified, and absentmindedly, Naruto casted a few lines of chakra to disrupt the sun's rays and lessen its concentration. Over the weeks, Naruto's familiarity with chakra had increased tremendously. Noting how chakra can pretty much interact with everything, there were boons to being able to manipulate chakra well. It helped to be able to feel the individual strands of chakra, as instead of it as some amorphous dough of energy.

But then, Naruto stopped and realized what he had just done. "Cool! This is so awesome!" exclaimed Naruto. Of course, creating a flow system that redirects light came directly from the principle of directing wind, but now with the ability to manipulate light somewhat…"bah, it still won't get me to fly."

Naruto went down to the lakeside and stretched his legs into the water. A keen Hyuuga observer would note that Naruto was currently radiating chakra like a hairy sea monster. Bundles of tiny chakra lines were coming from his body, waving around like seaweed in the ocean. Naruto stirred his legs in circles, but soon felt that the chakra met and dragged the water with it. He concentrated on other flow patterns and eventually was able to create a small whirlpool by his feet.

Suddenly, an idea came together and Naruto began to whirl his other foot in the opposite direction, another whirlpool formed. He pushed the chakra together, dragging the two whirlpools until they were onto of one another. The result was somewhat as he anticipated. Instead of a whirlpool, the water just became unruly and gave small, unpredictable waves. It wasn't perfectly cancelled out, due to how he counteracted the whirlpool, but it seemed enough to try.

Naruto, excited, sent nearly a thousand clones to disrupt the storm and counteract the whirlpool. He successfully placated part of the storm near the pillar, but when he tried to counter the whirlpool, it instead dragged the chakra lines, and thus Naruto along with it into the ocean.

Naruto groaned.

As his spotter clones continued to survey the results, one noticed another whirlpool drag at the dinghy. The clone tried to warn the others to release the storm but was too late. CRRAAACCCKK! A chunk of rock fell off, taking with it a kunai, some rope and the remains of the dinghy out into the sea. A couple of clones tried to use ninja wire to drag it back, but the pull was just too strong. They were dragged in, and with it, the boat was lost.

_Fuck. There goes my ride, _thought Naruto.

Naruto went back to the lake and swirled his foot in the water. _Well at least I figured out that I also have water elemental affinity._

Due to an arbitrary decision or a well-thought of planning, Kurama decided to take the last laugh: **"BWAHAHAHA! Naruto, that's so funny. You actually didn't train yourself in wind or water elemental chakra this whole time. Hahaha, granted, you've been doing *cough* productive chakra control training, your wind control is still shit and water…you don't even have that talent…hehehe"**

And Naruto calmly replied: _And fuck you too Kurama. And fuck this world for what it's worth. _

Boom. The chakra in the water accidentally clashed too hard and caused an explosion, drenching Naruto.

GRAAAAAAAAAHH! WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE! NOW I'M TRAPPED HERE WITHOUT A WAY OUT, FORCED TO EAT POTATOES FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. FUCK YOU WORLD!

_**Ah, it's fun sometimes to screw with his chakra control, **_the Kyuubi mused silently.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"**Naruto, you could always fly your way out"**, said the Kyuubi.

"You've said that already and I told you that I can't fly anymore", replied Naruto.

"**Now hold on a second. I never said that you had to use the Sage's power to fly. You're able to fly with pure wind manipulation…it's just hard to control"** stated the Kyuubi.

"Well, what do you have in mind? I thought I was doing wind elemental training, but it turns out I wasn't even close", huffed Naruto.

"**It's a simple matter of reconsideration. Wind chakra is still chakra after all. You made the mistake of believing that wind chakra manipulation was manipulating wind"** said the Kyuubi nonchatantly.

"Wait, what? So that was it? Damn…I better get started then", said Naruto.

And so he let his chakra fly into the wind once again, but this time remembering what Asuma had once told Naruto, he purposely grinded the strings against each other. It was tougher than he thought.

"**Well Naruto, I hate to burst your bubble, but you're still working on improving chakra control. Granted, grinding chakra strings will create smaller strings, which could be useful, you're not thinking about wind chakra at all….that is all"**, said the Kyuubi before he returned to sleep.

_Fuck…why is it so hard to make wind chakra? _Pondered Naruto. _I've used it before, but I was hoping that my chakra would automatically become wind. _

It was only after a couple of months that Naruto was finally able to grasp the basics of manipulating wind. Unlike fine particles, wind consisted of moving masses of wind. To use wind chakra, one had to continuously move it. Shaping it, in Naruto's perspective, was the least of his worries. Just the mental processes needed to continuously move the wind was already draining Naruto. A barely visible blob of air was moving around Naruto in a random pattern. Of course, Naruto used his shadow clones to their full extent to quicken the learning process.

At the same time he was mastering wind, his other clones were dabbling in water manipulation. The process was nearly the same, but his water stayed under the surface of the lake. Perhaps the biggest bottleneck to this elemental training was that the amount of chakra needed to fuel those chakra blocks was enormous. Sharpening wind against itself to cut objects only needed enough chakra to make those necessary shapes. Most of the time, the chakra was cutting against itself and everything around it – except Naruto's hands – and inefficiently cutting the leaf or the waterfall that it was supposed to take down. Now, his training took cutting to a second priority and focused on mastering wind itself.

Water was much easier to manipulate, as the molecular forces allowed blobs of water to drag against one another, making water current control much easier. Unfortunately, keeping water in stationary shapes grew in difficulty as Naruto became used to constantly moving his chakra. The two exercises provided both sides to elementary elemental training, and perhaps after a couple of months, Naruto may succeed in grasping both arts.

Of course, he didn't shy away from his chakra control. Understanding his lack of proficiency in other shapes, Naruto began to experiment in recreating the Demon Cloak with his own chakra. Expending his chakra but only by a few inches took significantly more effort than before. At the same time, other clones were attempting to create even smaller chakra strands.

All in all, Naruto's imprisonment on the pillar would prove fruitful in his training, but soon he would leave the island – albeit in a very unorthodox manner.

The sun was shining bright in the blue sky and pure energy was in the air. The Kyuubi was immediately alarmed and notified Naruto, who became nervous as well. The energy continued to gather into the lake until, all of a sudden, a blinding flash of light and a small explosion brought Naruto off his feet. As he was expecting to land on his ass, he soon became surprised to meet cold, thin air.

The pillar disappeared.

Both man and beast confused, Naruto continued to fall, panicking throughout. Within seconds, Naruto splashed into the waters and immediately dragged himself to the surface, only to be dragged back down again due to the whirlpools. Now, without the interference of the pillar and subsequent storms, the whirlpools came back in full force.

Only this time, Naruto quickly reacted and created a small water platform, a swirling disk of water, by his feet that withstood the drag of the water. Catching his breath, Naruto, shakily, began to take a step along the border of the whirlpool, each time his foot touched the water, it became stable and somewhat able to bear his weight. Of course, sometimes Naruto would fail to create the platform in time, and fall into the whirlpool. Some quick thinking and an air blast was able to push him out of the jaws of these whirlpools.

Eventually, Naruto got the hang of it and began running across the waters, trailing along the edges of the whirlpools – there was literally no space undisturbed by whirlpools. It was unorthodox indeed, but good water manipulation training nevertheless. He continued running for a day and a half before finally leaving the whirlpool infested waters and onto some calmer waters. Still stuck in the middle of nowhere on the high seas, he had no choice but to continue running. Now without the burden of creating platforms, he applied a small coating of chakra to his foot and gathered the Kyuubi's chakra to speed his way to land.

Within hours of the speed boost, Naruto saw mountains over the curvature of the Earth and doubled his speed, subconsciously gathering natural energy to fuel his already dwindling reserves. By the time he reached land, he took a step onto a rocky outcrop, climbed the cliff and sat himself next to a particularly large tree that resided just off the cliff. Sleep had never felt so good. As always, the morning after was shit for Naruto's body and mind.

"**Let's do that again sometime. I feel like you've improved much more by doing that than by doing your mindless training on that pillar, hahaha"** joked the Kyuubi.

_Fucking sadist, _thought Naruto.

The sun's rays helped warm Naruto's body and, after lounging in the sun for a few hours, Naruto felt fit to hunt for some brunch. Sending clones to scout the area, Naruto again tried to summon some water. With much more ease, a blob of water crawled up the rocks and onto Naruto's hand. Amazed at the progress, he tried to levitate it, but failed. Not discouraged, Naruto continued to test differing manipulations. He soon realized that he could only affect its shape through inner water movement. The properties of water, such as its temperature, could not be changed so easily. On the other hand, his wind manipulation became smoother more graceful. Of course, it wasn't anything battle-ready but it was a start in truly manipulating wind.

Satisfied with this unexpected but nevertheless welcome improvement, Naruto stood up. He immediately crumpled to the aches in his body. Crawling to a nearby rock, Naruto struggled to stretch and warm his muscles so that they would become supple and therefore take on his weight. After 10 minutes of getting used to his body, Naruto stood up and sent some clones to survey the area. He continued through the mountains until he came upon a herd of goats.

_MEAT! Hell yeah!_ Thought Naruto jubilantly. He climbed up the cliff until he was a good deal higher than the herd. He picked out an especially large goat and, with that goat as a target, leapt off the rocky mountainside and descended, rusty kunai in hand, onto the neck of the goat. Within seconds, the goat fell and the herd dispersed. Some clones popped, relaying a grand view of his position. While Naruto dragged his prize to some relatively flat land, he sorted through the data his clones sent to him.

Apparently, he was on a rocky mountain peninsula. A small group of clones speeded through to the mainland to find more and more mountains. The mountain ranges extended for all that the eye could see. Naruto sighed. He was stuck again. _Man, those mountains look harsh. I'm pretty sure it's spring here, but those mountain ranges are covered with snow_, thought Naruto. Of course, Naruto wouldn't let such conditions hamper his search for his sensei, but at the same time, travelling through miles and miles of snow at relatively high altitudes without preparation is tantamount to suicide.

_Perhaps I could try and develop my fire elemental chakra manipulation_, thought Naruto.

"**Well good luck with that. You humans rarely do understand the elemental nature of chakra. Your Jonin tend to focus on one element and disregard the others. It's a waste of time and energy to do so. The elements are intertwined that to, as you humans call it, 'master' an element, you need to understand all of the elements. A true master of an element is a master of all"**, said the Kyuubi all of a sudden.

_Well that does explain why air manipulation was easier after working with water. Sure they all have their differences, but I guess it's easier to train one element by training the others. In that way I suspect that training the fire element may help me heat air, water and earth. Hmm…let's get started…after I eat, _thought Naruto.

The afternoon was spent cooking and devouring the lamb while doing reconnaissance sweeps in the surrounding area. Of course, there were no settlements nearby. The terrain and land could not support a small community of people. There was very little edible vegetation in the area and Naruto had to scour hard to find any trees. In fact, in order for him to cook the lamb, a couple of clones had to cut some firewood from far inland. The wait time for the wood to come in was _almost_ worse than the 3 minute waiting period for the ramen to finish.

Standing in the nadir of a valley, Naruto began to bring his hands together and focus his chakra around his palms. Elsewhere, his clones were continuing various experiments with water and wind, as well as refining the chakra threads to miniscule sizes.

The chakra around his fingers danced to some unknown tune while Naruto focused on making fire. It was difficult, but not impossible. For him, the key was to find a certain imagery, a certain kind of manipulation of chakra that would amplify its fire-like characteristics. Naruto continued to search his mind for the right image, but could come up with none.

At some point in his train of thought, Naruto realized that nature set the behaviour of chakra, and perhaps nature can give guidance to its secrets of creation. After all, wind manipulation was partly inspired by pressure systems that managed large scale weather. And so Naruto left his training to his clones. He created a couple more clones to look around at nature for some inspiration.

Unsuccessfully, Naruto returned to his training ground. Nature yielded none of its secrets. Naruto slept on the problem. And then an earthquake shook the lands. Naruto first thought that a goat stampede was coming to get at him for his devouring of one of their brethren. Then the shaking increased until rocks were tumbling down. Unfortunately, Naruto was not able to get up fast enough as a rockslide trapped him and dragged him into a sinkhole.

With some quick thinking, Naruto established a chakra lifeline, creating air flow that brought him oxygen even as he fell. The rocks couldn't destroy the flow so long as he supplied the necessary chakra. After a couple of seconds, Naruto hit the bottom and began to survey his situation. Looking around, he noticed quite a few tunnels and decided to explore. After all, he was aimlessly walking the world. What could a few tunnels matter?

He dusted himself and looked up. There was a large hole, and plenty of air flow coming, relieved Naruto that there would be a constant supply of fresh air. He started strolling down the tunnel, and after a while noticed that the tunnel was still lit despite being far from the hole in the ceiling. As Naruto continued to venture down the tunnels, he noticed a red glow coming from ahead. Curionless us and cautious, he ventured forward until he found a lava pit. The path ended there and he couldn't continue without diving into the lava. Mesmerized by the warmth and energy of the lava, he sat down next to it, and stared. In his mind, the key to generating fire chakra had something to do with lava.

_Lava generates heat, so maybe heat is the key to making fire chakra. _Rubbing his hands together, he focused the chakra in his hands. When that didn't work, he began to imagine the chakra as being searing hot. There was some interaction, but none so of the flames that he wanted. _Close, but I need a stronger image._ Gathering his imagination, Naruto began to run through other possibilities to bring out fire. Imagining torches, wildfires, volcanoes and even energy, the flames would just not come.

Naruto stared back at the lava and wondered why. A couple hours passed before Naruto had a spark of inspiration. Remembering the Kyuubi's advice of meshing all the elements together to further gain understanding in the elements, Naruto decided to revisit his theories on water and wind. In principle, water chakra, to Naruto, is chakra that directly interacts with water and can move it and change certain properties of the medium, such as density. By contrast, wind chakra is made of chakra that acts like wind, and requires continuous movement to stay there. Fire, by similarity, could be linking chakra to fire and directly manipulating it, or that the chakra becomes fire. It was puzzling. From experience, he knew that fire created air flow just by heating the air, so fire definitely imparts energy.

It would be a longshot, but Naruto decided to create fire by using wind. After all, doesn't wind feed fire? Imagining swirling wisps of energy focus on his palms, Naruto concentrated on moving wind chakra quickly, pushing energy into it such that heat would come. It never came. "Well fuck. What didn't I do?"

Curiously, Naruto noted how the wind chakra emanating from his palms created air flows that cooled certain patches of lava. *Facepalm* "Of course! Fire needs something to burn on!" Renewed with motivation, Naruto set up another the same experiment, but let the air come in to feed the fire. In a flash, a ball of fire appeared from his palm, and Naruto rejoiced in the heat. And then he smelled the burnt flesh.

_Ow! Fuck this! _He quickly put out the flame, and now somewhat satisfied, he went back to the hole and climbed out of the tunnel.

It was a good day. Or a good midnight. The sun just rose, and Naruto realized that he missed out on a night of well needed rest.


End file.
